Who doesn’t want to wake up to this? ☕️🥮😎 An almond ring coffee cake made from subtly sweet and tender yeast dough and filled with almond puree is baked until golden on the outside, and soft on the inside. Then, top it all with a simple almond flavored icing and toasted sliced almonds. It’s easy to make and while you’re at it … why not make two and freeze one for later!
When I was just two years old, one of my parents’ neighbors brought this coffee cake to our house when my little sister was born in late November. What a treat it was and my mom was so enthused that she phoned for the recipe! Are we ever glad she did. It’s become a mainstay in our household ever since. These days I make it for my own family, and when I do, I usually do make two recipes … one for now and one to freeze for later. It’s also a great breakfast treat for special occasions like holidays or summer guests. We have a lot of guests at the cabin in the summer, so this one makes the cut often!
One thing my husband just asked me about is whether I can make it with a jam filling instead of the almond filling. I absolutely love the almond paste filling, but if you’re more of a jam person, then I can see where it could be delicious in this yeast dough pastry. When I get around to doing that, I will definitely report back! But, you can definitely make it with a filling of butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, pecans and currants and it’s delicious. That we have done and it’s excellent.
One of our readers commented that he substituted coconut milk for both the coffee cake and the icing, and it turned out very well. This could be a good alternative to any one who doesn’t drink milk! The recipe still calls for butter, so it still would not be nondairy, but would be cow’s milk free.
Almond Ring Coffee Cake
Equipment
- 1 9-inch pie dish
Ingredients
Pastry Dough
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 pkg. active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp.)
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 oz. unsalted butter 1/2 stick or 1/4 cup
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Almond Filling
- 10 oz. Solo Brand Almond Cake & Pastry Filling (The whole can is 12.5 oz, but you don’t need all of it, so save it for another use.)
- 2 oz. butter, softened to room temp 1/2 stick or 1/4 cup
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract
Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 tsp. milk (+/-)
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract
- 1/2 cup toasted, sliced almonds for garnish on top of icing
Instructions
Pastry Dough
- Place 1 1/2 cups of the flour and the yeast in a large bowl and set aside.
- In a saucepan, heat butter, sugar, salt and milk, until butter is almost melted, but the milk does not boil, approximately 110-115° F on a candy thermometer.
- Add liquids to dry mixture along with egg and vanilla and beat well with a large wooden spoon until thoroughly integrated.
- Add remaining flour, a little at a time, until it turns into a soft dough.
- Turn dough out onto a floured cloth or board and knead, using additional flour as needed, for about five minutes or until the dough is elastic and pops back when poked. Place dough in a greased or sprayed bowl, turning once to coat top and bottom and cover the bowl with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until double in size, or about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Once risen, punch dough down with your fingers and allow to rest for 10 more minutes.
- While the dough is rising, grease or spray a 9-inch pie dish. Set aside.
- On a floured board or cloth, roll the dough into a large rectangle, about 10 x 15 inches. Spread filling (recipe below) to cover the entire dough rectangle.
- Roll the dough into a log, beginning with the long end so the log is about 15 inches long. Form into a circle and place into the prepared pie dish, with the seam side down. Pinch the open ends together, so that you have a complete circle. With kitchen shears, snip little air holes in the top of the pastry every couple of inches. Let rise again for about 30 minutes, or until the roll is nearly doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 350° F while the pastry is doing the second rising.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown on the outside. Remove from oven and cool completely.
- Once cooled, drizzle with icing and top with toasted, sliced almonds
Almond Filling
- Blend all of the ingredients with a fork until well integrated.
Icing
- Sift powdered sugar into a bowl. Slowly add milk and almond extract and stir until it reaches a good consistency for drizzling from a spoon. If you need to add more or less milk or powdered sugar to get there, don’t worry at all. It happens!
Hi, I was looking for a coffee ring using almond paste, and I’ve come across your recipe. I’m excited to try making this, thanks for the recipe, will update once done.
Hi Doris! Thank you so much for commenting on our recipe! We hope you have a chance to make this coffee cake and please do let us know how it turns out! You can also use straight almond paste blended with butter and a little bit of almond or vanilla extract for the filling in place of the Solo canned almond filling, if you have a hard time finding the filling your you prefer the almond paste. To do that, simply soften the butter to room temp and mix it with the almond paste. If the almond paste is too firm, you can heat it in the microwave for 15 seconds or so to soften it up!
Worth the wait and the work! I’ve never used Solo Almond Cake & Pastry Filling before, but what a rich and empowering scent it has! I knew this recipe would be a winner from the moment I cracked open that can. Since I don’t drink milk, I substituted Coconut Milk for both the dough and the icing, and I’m pleased to say both turned out just fine. The Almond Ring expanded significantly while baking—it looked, smelled, and tasted fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing this delightful recipe!
Hi Steven! We are so happy you loved the Almond Ring Coffee Cake! It’s one of our family favorites, too. I’m with you on the smell of the almond filling … it makes you want to dive right in! The coconut milk substitute is great to know about and I will reflect that in the blog post, too! Thanks for the tip:) I love the way this coffee cake ring expands, too. It’s such a tender pastry, which we love! By the way, it also freezes very well, so next time if you want to make two of them, you’ll have one for “now” and one for “later”!
I have 8 ounce of almond paste, can I use my almond paste instead of the Canned Almond cake and pastry filling? If so, how much of my paste do I have to use and what other ingredients do I have to in mix in to make this delicious almond cake?
Hi Abby! We have not made this substitution before, but I would say the best thing to do would be to make a filling out of softened almond paste, a 1/4 cup evaporated milk and 1-2 tablespoons of corn starch to arrive at a spreadable consistency. You may need to dissolve the cornstarch in a little bit of heated evaporated milk so it won’t get lumpy, then cool the mixture before blending with the softened almond paste. We then add softened butter to the filling anyway, which will also make it a bit creamier. Please let us know how this works out if you try it!